Real Madrid are incredibly proud of their Champions League legacy and rightly so. It’s something that both Dani Carvajal and Carlo Ancelotti have gone out to defend in recent days.
Both responses come after the press asked about Xavi Hernandez’s comments on the Champions League, where he called the Champions League the most injust competition there is. He was referring to not having the luck against Bayern Munich in their second group game, as they were defeated in Germany.
Dani Carvajal gave a typically spiky response to Xavi in his press conference. His manager Carlo Ancelotti was also fairly firm in his answer to Diario AS. He was asked whether he preferred the league or the Champions League but then came onto the topic himself.
“I always wanted to win the Champions League. The league is very important, but the Champions League is more important. They are different. One is of 38 games and the other many fewer. Sometimes a knockout is of 180 minutes. There the small details matter.”
“It’s not luck or bad luck. Sometimes speaking about luck hides the problems you have and the merit of the rival. If I say that we had bad luck against Osasuna it means that I hide the problems that we had with the ball and the good match of the opponent.”
It should be pointed out that Ancelotti did do exactly that, as did Antonio Rudiger, following their match against Osasuna.
“Speaking about small details is important, in the Champions League they can score against you three times in just a few minutes, as has happened to me. It can also happen to you in a semi-final. The small details are controlled with a strong mentality. Real Madrid are the team that have taken care of these details most.”
There can be little argument with Ancelotti’s point about small details though. No team seems to come through as many hairy situations as Los Blancos and it is not for nothing. Last season’s Champions League victory was the most clear example of the effects of having a strong mentality.
“He was referring to not having the luck against Bayern Munich in their second group game, as they were defeated in Germany”
Same as Real cannot call themselves lucky to have won five CLs in last nine seasons barcelona cannot call themselves unlucky to keep failing miserably in CL anymore. It has been 7 years since they won and they have treated us neutral fans with some of most heart warming and hugely amusing failures in that competition.
Lets recollect some of their finest failures:
The Roma remontada – Who can forget that corner goal that sealed barcelonas fate. Surely youd figure they learned something from that..?
The Liverpool lambasting – you know, the most difficult lead to hold in football is… ah yes, 4-1. Apart from another invigorating loss, it was hugely amusing to see messis sadface in media, when he was caught moping during half time. Such a captain material! It actually makes sense that they kept on imploding, because with leadership like that- who needs opponents LMAO. Oh and no, they didnt learn a damn thing from last year ANOTHER SPECTACULAR CORNER THAT SEALS THEIR FATE, ahaha.
The Bayern bIowout – one surely has to deduce that Bayerns coach told them to hold back, not to humiliate barcelona even more then they did. The subplots were many in this match, but lets just say its bad when your goalie is your best player in a 8-2 loss. I mean, 8-2 over two legs is devastating scoreli…wait what, one leg you say!?You gotta wonder how scoreline would have looked like if they played 2 legs. Congrats to Coutinho on his CL title, moving to barcelona did at the end give him one, just not in the sense bartomeu was hoping for Lmaooo.
The EL embarrassment few can argue over the fact that winning EL is an embarrassment however you slice it. A trophy at least saved their faces from a disaster season. Oh wait, they didnt win it…? Lost vs Frankfurt? Ahahah. Love how xavi blamed Frankfurt fans for cheering on their team, after fcb had the audacity to sell them tickets.. xavi they didnt want to sell them, they had to! Didnt you get the memo, club is broke! Haha. Love how some fcb fans that breathe with their mouths bragged with 4-0 win vs Real. Yeah, go on and have that won in one match trophy while we collect 3 (contrary to this writers beliefs) trophies that season. The cognitive dissonance was real.
Which brings me to my first paragraph…
Its not a fluke for both teams anymore. Its nowadays culture.